this morning on "early today," president obama travels to new jersey to survey the jaw dropping devastation inflicted by sandy. thousands remain stranded in hoboken. millions will remain without power for much of the week as the massive rebuilding and cleanup gets underway and all of is when millions of americans are getting ready to vote. not time for tricks or treats on this wednesday. >> announcer: this is "early today" for wednesday, october 31st, 2012. good morning, everyone. i'm lynn berry. 46 people have now been killed in the disastrous wrath of hurricane sandy and many more

remain trapped. the storm could wind up costing $50 billion in property damage and lost business. these are the newest images coming in to us from the height of the storm on monday night. surveillance video shows water filling the tunnel used by amtrak and commuter trains that go under new york's east river, but the damage along the jersey shore is something we have never seen before. these are ariel photos you can see. most of the six people killed in that state died on long beach island and a neighboring barrier island. governor chris christie calls the devastation unthinkable. tuesday he tries to comfort one of the many victims. >> very difficult day. i know. we'll rebuild. we're tough. >> we're tough. >> not far away in seaside heights an incredible site here. that's a roller coaster

partially submerged in the ocean. we're going to have more on that in a moment. first, in new york city the subway system remains crippled after heavy flooding caused what officials say the worst damage in its 108 year history. no one knows when it will be up and running again. let's go back to new jersey. there were countless rescues there and for some the realization that they were no match for mother nature. >> terrible. it was awful. it was the worst thing i ever saw. the waters came down like crazy. we were sorry we stayed. >> well, let's go live now to kathryn craig. she's from our new york station, wnbc. she is down in lower manhattan. kathryn, thank you for joining us. it's a ghost town. it's incredibly eerie. can you describe it for us? >> reporter: people call it a ghost town, lib. this is the financial heart of new york city. in this area so much work is

going on. right over here you can see all of this water coming out. what workers are doing is pumping water out of the office buildings here. there's also a subway station next to us and that had 13 feet of water from the tracks all the way up to the ceiling underground. it is a pretty grim situation down here. also, just driving here from uptown manhattan, you hit 39th street and it is pitch black. there are no street lights. there are no traffic lights. and it's dark. people are just going through intersections being careful, but it is still pitch black. the subway system, as you announced, there is just no timetable as to exactly when it will be up and running again. the buses are running so that's a good thing. and also what a lot of people are thinking about as they head back to work, there's no school for the kids today but the thing is people are trying to go back to work. the stock exchange is back up and running but at breezy point, that's a devastated area in queens about 100 homes were

burned to the ground. even mayor bloomburg said it looked like the aftermath of world war ii, breezy point and queens. >> you described how it was completely pitch black, hundreds of thousands of people without power. any idea from the mayor when that power will be back. >> consolidated edison is the utility company here. all of the buildings are dark here. they were estimating that it will take four days for power to be restored. you don't just have office buildings that are dark, but also a lot of these high rice residential buildings. about 200,000 people in new york city are without power. >> kathryn craig there for us in lower manhattan. thanks so much. new jersey appears to have taken the brunt of sandy's wrath especially along towns along the shoreline where it made landfall. danielle leigh is in tom's river. what's it like there? >> reporter: good morning, lynn. just behind me is the bridge connecting main land new jersey to the jersey shore.

it was just yesterday that the road that i'm standing on was completely submerged in water. now that those tidal waters have washed away, we're getting a look at some of the grimness that have washed away. this dock should not be in this parking lot and it is littered all over. decorations from people's homes. officers tell me they have no idea where many of these things even came from. it's not surprising when you look at the aerial images of the jersey shore, the sheer devastation there. homes barely peeking out of the sand. the rooftops exposed. stately homes devastated, smashed into smith they are reasons. seaside heights, a popular amusement park smashed. when you see what people had to run from. president obama will be here later today. he will be surveying the damage along the jersey shore along with governor chris christie. officers tell me that this bridge will likely not be open until friday at the very earliest. later today they will resume

efforts to rescue anyone there on the jersey shore. nbc meteorologist bill karins has your weather channel forecast. bill, we know sandy is a much different storm than it was before. it's still moving. >> the damage is done. what was amazing yesterday is the winds and the weather from kentucky to tennessee all the way up to the great lakes was affected by this hurricane that made landfall in new jersey. unheard of storm. it was such a broad storm. you saw the devastation. the insurance numbers and the cost estimates to the economy is just going to be staggering for a category 1 hurricane. it appears that we'll easily make the top five list, possibly somewhere up here with hurricane andrew. these numbers are adjusted with inflation. will ma, ike were category 3 storm. andrew was a five. sandy, the only category 1. mostly because of where it made landfall right through the most

populated areas of our country. now the storm itself today still spin so long this huge edge you see, a lot of bad weather and last night with thunderstorms going up through areas of eastern massachusetts and maine. it remains kind of stuck right now with a big blocking high that was responsible for leaving this system and sending it back at the u.s. is still sitting there. we have another day or two until we can get rid of the storm. the concern this morning is that everyone without power, temperatures in the 40s. very cold. snow is winding down. only a little more is expected. people without power, a chilly morning for you. that's a look at your forecast. now here's a look at the weather outside your window. well, on this halloween, many areas of the country will actually see beautiful weather. it's unfortunate the areas near sandy, great lakes, ohio valley still have to deal with the cloudsnd and occasional showers. i'll have the complete halloween forecast later. bill, thanks so much. also coming up, the

presidential election is less than 140 hours away and sandy could end up being the major factor in choosing our next president. plus, years of medical research at one of the nation's top colleges destroyed by sandy. much more ahead this morning on "early today."

welcome back. election day is now less than 140 hours away, but right now for millions of sandy's victims, the next two days will hold a lot of uncertainty. today president obama, as we mentioned, will be touring new jersey's devastated coast with republican governor chris christie. nbc's tracie pots has the latest on that from washington. tracie, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning. less than a week away from this campaign and governor romney is now cautiously venturing back onto the campaign trail. president obama still really tied up with dealing with this storm. so the campaign is back on sort of. we've got paul ryan who's back out in wisconsin today. vice president biden in florida. so is governor romney.

he's got three stops in florida today. he was in ohio yesterday collecting supplies and thanking supporters for helping those storm victims and also avoiding questions about fema, the federal emergency management agency, and their response to this storm. meanwhile, president obama probably won't be back on the campaign trail until tomorrow in colorado at the earliest. today as you mentioned he is visiting new jersey and getting a pat on the back from new jersey's republican governor, his rival, chris christie who says the president has done an outstanding job in this storm. the president won't be visiting new york city. mayor bloomberg says they have a lot to do to handle a presidential visit. tracie, thanks. back to sandy. two of the three major airports serving the area, kennedy and newark, will start to reopen today. they'll have limited service this morning. the superstorm created a

worldwide ripple effect for many travelers. many are still stranded overseas. let's check in with nbc's michelle kuzinsky. she is monitoring those this morning. good morning to you. >> reporter: hi. we expect the situation to improve some today, but it has been slow going. we just got this number from heathrow that 54 cancellations are in effect right now from here. that's a high number considering that on monday it was about the same number of cancellations then while the storm was about to hit. yesterday that number jumped to nearly 90 cancellations. we're talking, again, just out of heathrow. other airports around the world are seeing cancellations also. frankfurt, germany, 15 flights canceled today to and from the united states. the result has been -- although we don't have exact numbers, thousands of americans thought to be stranded in various cities around the world. thousands of people also stuck on the u.s. side trying to get home or to whatever they need to do in europe and beyond.

we talked to some people who were at a hotel outside of heathrow yesterday from philadelphia. they have been trying to get home. they thought that the earliest flight they would be able to get out on would be on friday or saturday. for people farther afield in hong kong, other parts of asia, they were thinking it might be a week before they could get another flight. the problem is that there are not that many flights to cities like new york especially some of the smaller eastern cities like philadelphia, charlotte, north carolina. much, much more difficult for people to get back there. they've been trying to route themselves through other cities, but because of that snowballing effect it has been very difficult for them. they've been upset that some airlines are not helping them with hotel reservations. lynn. >> michelle for us in london. thanks so much. it's back to business for wall street today after sandy sidelined the heartbeat of america's financial world. plus, george lucas makes a blockbuster deal that will bring three new "star wars" movies to

the silver screen. in weather, the powerless forecast continues to be cold, chilly and damp even on this halloween. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

in news this morning, years of important medical research was lost when the nyu medical center in new york was evacuated during hurricane sandy because of a power failure. thousands of research mice also

perished. a man whose twitter handle is@comfortably smug is apologizing for tweets during sandy including one saying the new york stock exchange was underwater. he resigned from the house campaign in new york. south dakota executed donald moeller for the 1990 rape of a 9-year-old little girl. it was the second execution in a state that executed only two other people since 1913. police say they have caught the man accused of stealing $1.6 million worth of casino chips at the va nabil el-araby shan in las vegas. he was arrested at his mother's home and police recovered $396,000 in chips. this is just in to us. it's from new york's statin island as nypd officers made a dangerous and dramatic rooftop rescue because of rising flood waters from sandy, some residents were trapped in their homes there. the members of the police department's aviation and scuba unit were able to lower a basket

to the roof and rescue five adults and one small child. the chopper heldly kopt jerp 23 was named after the 23 new york city police officers killed on 9/11. an amazing job for those guys out there. after being shut down for two days, u.s. markets will reopen today. it's unlikely to be business as usual, but trading will resume on and off the floor of the new york stock exchange this morning and the nasdaq. the last time weather interrupted u.s. markets to this degree, 1888. incredibly the fcc says the unprecedented superstorm knocked out 25% of wireless cell towers and a quarter of cable services in ten states. governor bob mcdonald is giving sandy's virginia victims until november 9th to renew expiring driver's licenses and permits. late fees for state tax returns or payments received by november 9th will be waived. jpmorgan chase bank is extending its late fee waiver

for states impacted by sand bey through tomorrow, november 1st. an out of this world deal is sure to spark wall street. disney is buying "star wars" from george lucas. movie fans who had power but were stranded at home by sandy gave netflix a boost by about 20% nationwide in hard hit northeast. streaming spiked 100%. not much else to do. well, the incredible images we're only just beginning to see from sandy's powerful winds and surging waters remind us that it's people's resilience that will once again get us through the devastation. an incredible report coming up next. you're watching "early today."

well, sandy's biggest impact yesterday was with the snow. unbelievable snow totals today. two to three feet has people locked in from the mountains of tennessee to north caroli, virginia, even the high elevations of maryland. that's improving today. everyone still doesn't have power. cold, chilly morning. still showers all through new england. the rest of the holiday forecast. much of the country looks for a beautiful day for your trick or treating. >> bill, thanks so much. it wasn't until daylight yesterday that the full measure of sandy's devastation was realized along the 130 miles of the new jersey shoreline. ron allen spoke with some residents of bay head, new jersey, south of point pleasant beach who decided not to

evacuate. >> reporter:le long-time new jersey shore residents were determined to stick the storm out. >> to me, it's more about my house, my home. this is my roof over my head. i don't want to leave it. >> reporter: hours before, shelly, kim, and kim's husband john took a walk to the shoreline. >> i don't think i've ever seen it like that. >> look at the size of the waves. >> reporter: 150 feet of beach was now underwater. >> this is what this looks like now. >> no. when we come back even at midnight tonight this will all be gone. >> no way. >> reporter: kim and shelly hunkered down, worried about what was going on outside and wondering if they had made a bad decision. >> you know what, i'm going to -- i swear to god, i'm going to cry in a second. you know what just hit me? this town is going to be destroyed. >> reporter: when dawn finally came, the extent of the disaster was shocking. up and down the coast dunes were

toppled, seawalls breached, houses submerged. tourist meccas like seaside heights were destroyed. kim and shelly were the lucky ones. >> we're good. are you okay? >> reporter: with just four inches of water inside their houses, but many of their neighbors had it rougher. >> nobody's ever seen this. it's never done this. >> that looks much different. that was nbc's ron allen reporting. as we go to break, we want to show you some powerful images of this storm's wrath. they come to us from our new york station, wnbc. take a look.

>> you're watching wbal-tv 11. live, local, late-breaking. this is 11 news today at 5:00 a.m. >> good morning. the weather should be quieting down over the next several days. there are a few sprinkles out there. 41 at the airport. 43 in rock hall. it will be a chilly day today. not windy but a little breezy. trick-or-treating should be no problem with this evening. high temperatures in the mid 50's. >> 4:57.

41 degrees at the airport. >> school closings -- who is in and who is out? >> waiting for some debris to be >> waiting for some debris to be cleared in some multivitamin coming in. on it chief! look alive people! smooth and steady guys. everything on schedule down here? yep, pretty regular. nice job. keep it strong. thanks. onward and upward! vo: launch your day. ...with the multivitamin made with 26 fruits and vegetables plus extra b-vitamins... ...for energy. alive. start feeling it.

[captioning made possible by constellation energy group] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> you're watching wbal-tv 11. live, local, late-breaking. this is 11 news today at 5:00 a.m. >> good morning. i'm mindy basara. >> and i'm stan stovall. thanks for joining us for 11 news today. >> happy halloween. >> timing is everything. >> things will be ok for all of the trick-or-treaters. it should be no problem. 41 at the airport. 41 at the airport.